Saturday 11th October.
It is getting more difficult to write something every day as most of the time we spend in the villa relaxing and watching the wildlife. This morning we did a bit of shopping went to Walmart and Publix and noticed that the petrol prices had gone down again (even from last night) now only $3.09 at one place.
I have spent most of the afternoon writing a trip report and listening to the Rugby League Grand final between Wigan and St Helens on the laptop, as a Wakefield supporter I was not too bothered who won but Sue likes Saints so she was happy when they won. Stayed in the villa for tea and watched a bit of tv, need to be up fairly early tomorrow for the trip to Tampa Bay (Sue will be up at 6.00am so no problem there)
Sunday 12th October
Set off to Tampa at about 9.30am (kick off is not till 1.00pm) as not too sure about the traffic on game day. Fairly easy drive down the I4 until we got to Tampa and I missed the turn off for Dale Mabry Highway because of road works. Sat nav goes mental telling me to turn right!, turn right! turn right (there is no Bl***y right turn). Eventually there is an exit and I manage to get back on the opposite carriageway heading back to where I want to be. Get to the stadium at about 11.00am ($25 for parking Disney seems cheap now) and the car parks are full of people tailgating. The barbeques are on the kids are playing games and everyone seems to be having a good time (both sets of supporters mixing and being really relaxed).
We make our way to the stadium about 10 min walk we do not need to queue for tickets as printed off at home. Get through security really easy and everyone is helpful and pleasant. Get some lunch from one of dozens of food outlets and all the staff are smiling and helpful (I realise we are not in England[:O]) then we look for our seats (there they are section 310 up in the gods)
After lunch walk round the stadium to take in the atmosphere and finally get to our seats (we are sat with the Tampa Bay home supporters who are season ticket holders). The view we have is quite good really.
Before the game kicks off a parachute team from the army drops in with the match ball, the teams are introduced and the National Anthem sung which brings much cheering (they are very patriotic). Everyone around us is cheering and really excited as the game kicks off (oh how that will change). In the break after the first quarter the parachute team were all introduced to the crowd and were told who they were and how many tours they had done in Afghanistan and other places the whole stadium stood up and cheered (they really show there appreciation for their armed forces over here)
For people who do not know an American football game lasts 60 mins (the clock stops every time the ball goes dead so a game can take up to 3hrs) and is divided into 4 x 15 min quarters. I wont go into the actual way it is played but will just say after the first quarter Tampa Bay were loosing 28 to 0 []. At the start of the second quarter Baltimore scored again from the kick off so it was 35 - 0. The season ticket holders round us were booing and calling for the coach to be sacked (this was only the 5th game of a 16 game season). By half time the score was 38 - 3 and lots of people were leaving the stadium. We stayed until the start of the 4th quarter before we left and the final score was 44 - 17.
We really enjoyed the day out (we have been twice before and seen them win) and some of the banter between the supporters was priceless. Got back to the villa about 5.30pm had tea and a quiet night in with a drink.
Monday 13th October.
It is hot and sunny today so we decide to top up our tans by the pool. As I am laying on the bed It is really quiet and peaceful and It makes me think of all the people who (because of having children) have to go to crowded beaches and have other peoples children running up and down and disturbing them. We have been there and done that and I am just glad we can now enjoy somewhere like this.
The Sand hill cranes came back today (I am not going outside the pool cage again) and stayed on the lawn for about 3 hrs. Sticky the gator came across the lake and came right up to the lake side where the cranes were they made a lot of noise jumping up and down. The gator just sat in the water about 4-5 feet away and looked at them and maybe he thought it was too much trouble to try to catch one and after about 20 mins it turned round and swam back to the far bank where we think it usually stays.
After this excitement the Red Shouldered Hawk that we have seen a few times came and sat right on top of the pool cage. This is the closest we have seen it and I managed to get some good shots of it.
That's it for now Sue is telling me it is lunch time so I had better go and get her some[msnsmile][msnsmile]
G
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